Oscars 2015: The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum defends lack of gay storyline in Alan Turing biopic | The Independent Oscars 2015: The Imitation Game director Morten Tyldum defends lack of gay storyline in Alan Turing biopic The film focuses on his relationship and brief engagement to fellow code-breaker Joan Clarke Sunday 22 February 2015 21:08 BST Click to follow The Independent Culture Benedict Cumberbath as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game Snap Stills/REX The director of the Oscar-nominated The Imitation Game has defended the lack of gay storyline in the Alan Turing biopic, saying that it would not have enriched the film. The film about the famous British cryptographer, who cracked the Enigma Code and helped to end the Second World War, only briefly touches upon Turing’s homosexuality and flashbacks to a male crush he had at school. Turing is played by Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch and the focus is on his relationship and brief engagement to fellow code-breaker Joan Clarke, portrayed by Keira Knightley in the film.

Both stars have been received Oscar nods for their roles in the film, along with a nomination for director Morten Tyldum.

Oscars 2015 nominations Oscars 2015 nominations 1/28 Birdman - 10 nominations Academy Award nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Emma Stone), Best Actor (Michael Keaton), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Cinematography, Original Screenplay, Best Director (Alejandro González Iñárritu) Rex 2/28 The Grand Budapest Hotel - 10 nominations Academy Award nominated for Best Director (Wes Anderson), Best Picture, Film Editing, Production Design, for Makeup and Hairstyling, Costume Design, Cinematography, Original Screenplay, Original Score Martin Scali 3/28 The Imitation Game - 8 nominations Academy Award nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Benedict Cumberbatch), Best Supporting Actor ( Keira Knightley) Best Director (Morten Tyldum), Film Editing, Production Design, Adapted Screenplay, Original Score Snap Stills/REX 4/28 American Sniper - 6 nominations Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Bradley Cooper), Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay Warner Bros 5/28 Boyhood - 6 nominations Academy Award nominated for Best Picture,

 Actress in Supporting role (Patricia Arquette) Film Editing, Best Director (Richard Linklater), Original Screenplay 6/28 Whiplash - 5 nominations Academy Award nominated for Best Picture, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay AP 7/28 The Theory of Everything - 5 nominations Oscar nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Eddie Redmayne), Best Actress (Felicity Jones), Adapted Screenplay, Original Score Working Title Films 8/28 Foxcatcher - 5 nominations Oscar nominated for Best Director (Bennett Miller), Best Actor (Steve Carrell), Original Screenplay, Makeup and Hairstyling YouTube Oscar nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Song Paramount Pictures Oscar nominated for Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Original Score 11/28 Wild Reese Witherspoon is Oscar-nominated for best actress in a leading role and Laura Dern is nominated for best supporting actress 12/28 Two Days, One Night Marion Cotillard has been nominated in the best actress category film still Oscar nominated for Original Screenplay AP Rosamund Pike is Oscar nominated for best actress in a leading role Twentieth Century Fox Nominated for Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Production Design

, Sound Mixing, Original Score Warner Bros Best actress in a leading role nomination for Julianne Moore 17/28 The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies Oscar nominated for Sound Editing Warner Bros Oscar nominated for Production Design, Costume Design, Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep) PA/Disney 19/28 Captain America: The Winter Soldier Robert Redford and Chris Evans film is nominated for Special Effects AP 20/28 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Nominated for an Oscar in the Visual Effects category 20th Century Fox Oscar nominated for best song 'Everything Is Awesome' but snubbed in best animation category Rex Features 22/28 X-Men, Days of the Future Past Oscar nominated in the Visual Effects category Alan Markfield / 2013 Marvel & Subs / 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

23/28 Begin Again Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo in Begin Again which is Oscar nominated for best original song ©Weinstein Company/Everett/REX 24/28 Guardians Of The Galaxy Nominated for Visual Effects, for Makeup and Hairstyling AP Photo/Disney-Marvel Oscar nominated for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Cinematography Rex Features 26/28 How To Train Your Dragon 2 Oscar nominated for Animated Feature Film 27/28 Maleficent Oscar nominated for Costume Design © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Oscars 2015: Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game wins Academy Award on big night for Brits - Manchester Evening News Oscars 2015: Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game wins Academy Award on big night for Brits The Imitation Game won Best Adapted Screenplay at the 87th Academy Awards Share Get What's On updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game won an Oscar on a night of British success in Hollywood. The film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as maths genius Alan Turing won the Best Adapted Screenplay Award.

The World War Two-set movie had received eight nominations , including Best Film, which was won by Birdman, in one of the biggest shocks of the night. Cumberbatch missed out on the Best Actor golden statue to fellow Brit Eddie Redmayne, who won for his astonishing portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking. Redmayne dedicated his award to Professor Hawking . The Imitation Game screenwriter Graham Moore gave a heartfelt acceptance speech, announcing he tried to take his own life in his teens. He said: “Alan Turing never got to stand on a stage like this and I do. And that’s the most unfair thing I think I’ve ever heard. “When I was 16, I tried to kill myself because I felt different and that I did not belong. And now I am standing here. “This is for that kid out there that thinks she is weird or different or doesn’t fit in. Yes you do. Stay Weird.

Stay different and then when it’s your turn and you are standing on this stage, pass this message on to someone else.” This image released by The Weinstein Company shows Benedict Cumberbatch, , in a scene from the film, "The Imitation Game." (Photo: AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, Jack English) Richard Linklater, who directed Boyhood, a front-runner to take the Best Best Film Award, lost out to Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Other big winners were Julianne Moore for her role in Still Alice, J.K.Simmons walked away with the first award of the night, Best Supporting Actor and Patricia Arquette won Best Supporting Actress for her work on Boyhood. Arquette delivered an impassioned acceptance speech, where she called for equal pay and rights for women. It prompted a standing ovation and a particularly animated reaction of agreement from fellow nominee Meryl Streep . The 46-year-old said: “To every woman who gave birth. To every tax-payer and citizen of this nation. We have fought for everybody else’s equal rights.

It is our time to have wage equality and equal rights in the United States of America.” Patricia Arquette accepts the award for best actress in a supporting role for Boyhood at the Oscars (Photo: John Shearer/Invision/AP) It was a successful night for The Grand Budapest Hotel, as the Wes Anderson-directed film won four technical awards, with Birdman joining it at the summit of the awards table with the same amount of trophies. The ceremony, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, who received a mixed reaction to his debut as presenter, included performances from Maroon 5, a John Legend and Common collaboration, Rita Ora , Jennifer Hudson and the acts behind Everything is Awesome from The LEGO Movie - The Lonely Island, Tegan and Sara and Mark Mothersbaugh. But the performance of the night came from Lady Gaga , as she wowed with a medley tribute to The Sound Of Music. The film’s star, Julie Andrews made a surprise appearance on stage to greet Gaga and after giving her a hug, said: “ “Thank you for that wonderful tribute. It really warmed my heart.

It’s hard to believe that 50 years have gone by since that joyous film was released.” “As for me -- how lucky can a girl get.” Lady Gaga, left, and Julie Andrews embrace at the Oscars (Photo: John Shearer/Invision/AP) Full list of winners: WINNER: JK Simmons for Whiplash Robert Duvall for The Judge Ethan Hawke for Boyhood WINNER: Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley American Sniper – John T Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, Walt Martin Birdman – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Thomas Varga Interstellar – Gary Rizzo, Gregg Landaker, Mark Weingarten Unbroken – Jon Taylor, Frank A.

Montaño, David Lee Achievement in sound editing WINNER: American Sniper – Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman Birdman – Aaron Glascock, Martín Hernández The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Brent Burge, Jason Canovas Interstellar – Richard King Unbroken – Becky Sullivan, Andrew DeCristofaro Best supporting actress WINNER: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood Laura Dern for Wild Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game Emma Stone for Birdman Meryl Streep for Into the Woods Achievement in visual effects WINNER: Interstellar – Paul J Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Scott R Fisher Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Dan Deleeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill, Daniel Sudick Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett, Erik Winquist Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie, Cameron Waldbauer Best animated short film WINNER: Feast – Patrick Osborne, Kristina Reed The Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs, Chris Hees The

 Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo, Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove A Single Life – Joris Oprins Best animated feature film The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling American Sniper – Joel Cox, Gary Roach Best documentary feature WINNER: Citizenfour – Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky Finding Vivian Maier – John Maloof, Charlie Siskel Last Days in Vietnam – Rory Kennedy, Keven McAlester The Salt of the Earth – Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, David Rosier Virunga – Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara Best original song WINNER: Glory from Selma – Lonnie Lynn (Common), John Stephens (John Legend) The Lego Movie – Shawn Patterson (Everything Is Awesome) Beyond the Lights – Diane Warren (Grateful) Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me – Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond (I’m Not Gonna Miss You) Begin Again – Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois (Lost Stars) Common, left, and John Legend perform on stage at the Oscars (Photo: John Shearer/In

vision/AP) Best original score WINNER: Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game Hans Zimmer – Interstellar Jóhann Jóhannsson– The Theory of Everything Gary Yershon – Mr Turner WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman Richard Linklater – Boyhood E Max Frye, Dan Futterman – Foxcatcher Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler WINNER: Graham Moore – The Imitation Game Jason Hall – American Sniper Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything Damien Chazelle – Whiplash WINNER: Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman Richard Linklater for Boyhood Wes Anderson for The Grand Budapest Hotel Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game Best actor WINNER: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything Steve Carell for Foxcatcher Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game Bradley Cooper for American Sniper Michael Keaton for Birdman WINNER: Julianne Moore for Still Alice Marion Cotillard for Two Days, One Night Felicity Jones

 for The Theory of Everything Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl Reese Witherspoon for Wild The Imitation Game: Movie Review The Imitation Game: Movie Review By paezr on May 5, 2015 Rebecca Carey The Paw Print Morten Tyldum has done justice to the British scientist Alan Turing’s fascinating story in the 2014 “The Imitation Game.” The film was adapted by Graham Moore from “Alan Turing: The Enigma.” Alan Turing, who is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is a brilliant and socially awkward mathematician who invented and built an electronic computing device in the 1940s to crack the unbreakable German Enigma code.

The Enigma machine was a piece of hardware invented by the Germans and used by the Britain’s for breaking codes. The Germans would use the Enigma machine to encode and decode messages before they were sent out over a Morse code machine. The Britain’s would then intercept those messages to figure out what messages were being sent. The British were unable to decipher these codes until Alan Turing and his team created a machine to decipher them. To make the task harder the German’s would change the code each night making it harder to crack the code with every different day. Alan Turing joins the cryptography team with Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode), John Cairncross (Allen Leech), Peter Hilton (Matthew Beard), Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) the only woman on the team. While the team works on breaking the codes, Turing is busy creating the machine, which he calls Christopher, which will break the ‘unbreakable’ Enigma machine. There were a few setbacks in the process of breaking Enigma such as a search for a Soviet spy, the need for expensive materials, the program was almost shut down, and there was an active investigation into homosexual acts with Alan Turing.

Allan Turing and his cryptography team were successful in cracking the Enigma code, which allowed for them to help the Allies to defeat the Nazis and shorted the war as many as two to four years. His work was highly influential in the future development of the computer. Not only did Turing help save the world, he continues to influence it every day. The film addresses the treatment of homosexuals in the 1940s. Homosexual acts were criminal offenses in the United Kingdom during that time. Men were charged with gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885. Over 49,000 men were accused and persecuted for homosexual acts. Alan Turing faced either experimental hormone therapy, which is chemically induced castration, or two years in jail. Turing decided to undergo experimental hormone therapy and this ended up causing cyanide poisoning, which can cause weakness, confusion and bizarre behavior. Alan Turing ended up committing suicide on June 7, 1954. He was only 41 years old. The Queen officially pardoned Alan Turing in August 2014.

This 114-minute thriller and drama film can be a little hard to understand at times but in the end “The Imitation Game” is full of exciting moments and you will find yourself caring for the characters. If you are looking for a biographical or a war film this movie is well worth a couple hours of your time. 'The Imitation Game': Who Was the Real Alan Turing? - Biography.com History & Culture 'The Imitation Game': Who Was the Real Alan Turing? Benedict Cumberbatch brings the fascinating life of British codebreaker Alan Turing to the big screen in the new biopic "The Imitation Game." Who was the real Alan Turing? Read on to find out. . . Avatar: Social count: 388 Benedict Cumberbatch brings the fascinating life of British codebreaker Alan Turing to the big screen in the new biopic "The Imitation Game." Who was the real Alan Turing? Read on to find out. . .

388 0 Benedict Cumberbatch (left) plays British mathematician, computer scientist and codebreaker Alan Turing (right) in "The Imitation Game." Asked his reaction to The Theory of Everything, its subject, Stephen Hawking , replied, “Broadly true.” That may be the highest praise for biopics, which attempt to capture something of the life and experiences of notable personalities—preferably in three hours or less and usually released during awards season, where voters smile upon inspired impersonation. Following Hawking’s story into theaters is The Imitation Game, where TV’s Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch , plays a real-life sleuth of sorts, British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing . All the elements are in place for a riveting “broadly true” story. Turing’s code-breaking expertise helped Allied forces turn the tide against the Nazis in World War II. This heroic dimension is however shadowed by tragedy. For his homosexuality, which was illegal at the time, Turing was subsequently hounded by a government he worked to preserve, and in 1954 committed suicide at age 41.

His life was previously explored in the 1986 play and 1996 TV film Breaking the Code, which starred Derek Jacobi. Cumberbatch (who played WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange in last year’s The Fifth Estate and Stephen Hawking in a 2004 TV movie), said of Turing in an interview with the Daily Mirror, “He never wanted to be a martyr, he never showed his suffering and I don’t think he stood for a cause. He was just true to himself, which is all anyone should ever have to be. And that’s why he is in my mind, a true hero.” Codebreakers: Benedict Cumberbatch (center) as Alan Turing with (from left) Keira Knightley, Matthew Beard, Matthew Goode, and Allen Leech in "The Imitation Game." (Photo: TIFF) There were many facets to Turing’s life. For one thing, he was not altogether an egghead.

After the war years and his tenure at Bletchley Park, Britain’s code-breaking center, Turing—an avid bicyclist who, at 14, once rode 60 miles to attend his first day of classes when the trains were on strike—nearly qualified for the 1948 Olympics as a marathon runner. This would not have surprised his wartime colleagues, who knew that he sometimes ran the 40 miles from his home when he was needed for meetings. But Turing, renowned as the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, was best known for his mental gymnastics. The Cambridge- and Princeton-educated Turing, who had been working part time at Britain’s code-breaking organization, the Government Code and Cypher School, reported for duty at Bletchley Park immediately after Britain declared war on Germany in 1939. He quickly became one of the government’s greatest assets, with the cracking of Germany’s Enigma code shortening the war by two to four years and saving an estimated 14 million to 21 million lives, historians claim. Prime Minister Winston Churchill said Turing’s work was the single greatest contribution to Allied triumph.

Known as “Prof” at Bletchley Park, Turing had a few quirks, which fellow cryptanalyst Jack Good (later an adviser to Stanley Kubrick for his film 2001: A Space Odyssey) shared with Ronald Lewin, author of Ultra Goes to War: The Secret Story. “In the first week of June each year he would get a bad attack of hay fever, and he would cycle to the office wearing a service gas mask to keep the pollen off. His bicycle had a fault: the chain would come off at regular intervals. Instead of having it mended he would count the number of times the pedals went round and would get off the bicycle in time to adjust the chain by hand. Another of his eccentricities is that he chained his mug to the radiator pipes to prevent it being stolen.” When not engaged in such mundane battles, Turing achieved victory with Victory—his anti-Enigma machine, which by 1943 could crack 84,000 Enigma messages per month, messages that the Germans relayed to their U-boats to sink the North Atlantic merchant convoys that were bringing much-needed supplies to Britain.

Subsequent breakthroughs that led to the Colossus computer transformed Bletchley Park, described as “a maudlin and monstrous pile” by the American architect Landis Gores, into the world’s first electronic computing center. Speaking of which: There is no truth to the rumor that Apple Computer’s logo references Turing and his suicide, which was apparently caused by a cyanide-laced apple. The bite in the multicolored apple (whose colors mirror those of the gay pride flag) was actually to distinguish it from a cherry, though Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is said to have wished that it were some sort of commemoration. Cumberbatch called his onscreen counterpart Alan Turing "a true hero." Some historian's claim Turing's cracking of Germany's Enigma code during World War II shortened the war by two to four years and saved an estimated 14 million to 21 million lives. (Photo: TIFF) Turing’s work will always resonate. Colleges including Stanford University, the University of Puerto Rico, and Istanbul’s Bilgi University honor him with lecture rooms, statues, and conference events. In 1999, Time magazine named him one of the most important figures of the 20th century.

In the 21st, he’s name-dropped in TV shows like Archer and The Simpsons and was earlier this year the subject of a musical work, A Man from the Future, written and performed by the Pet Shop Boys. On June 23, 2012, the centenary of Turing’s birth, the London Olympic Torch flame was passed in front of his statue in Sackville Gardens, Manchester. And, on December 24, 2013, a measure of redemption— Queen Elizabeth II signed a pardon for Turing’s conviction, in 1952, for gross indecency. It went into effect in August, and is only the fourth royal pardon granted since World War II ended. “He’s not as much in the front of history textbooks as he should be,” Cumberbatch told the Daily Mirror. With such a compelling biography to draw on, The Imitation Game should secure more prominent placement for Alan Turing when it opens November 28. Tags The Imitation Game (2014) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This!

Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV During World War II, mathematician Alan Turing tries to crack the enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians. Director: Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence. a list of 29 titles created 23 Aug 2014 a list of 26 titles created 05 Nov 2014 a list of 24 titles created 17 Dec 2014 a list of 49 titles created 15 Oct 2015 a list of 35 titles created 5 days ago Title: The Imitation Game (2014) 8.1/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 1 Oscar.

Another 44 wins & 155 nominations. See more awards » Videos With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent. Director: David Fincher The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous hotel from the fictional Republic of Zubrowka between the first and second World Wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. Director: Wes Anderson A team of explorers travel through a wormhole in space in an attempt to ensure humanity's survival. Director: Christopher Nolan A look at the relationship between the famous physicist Stephen Hawking and his wife. Director: James Marsh Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort , from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government. Director: Martin Scorsese Illustrated upon the progress of his latest Broadway play, a former popular actor's struggle to cope with his current life as a wasted actor is shown. Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu In 1954, a U.S.

marshal investigates the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane. Director: Martin Scorsese A thief, who steals corporate secrets through use of dream-sharing technology, is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a CEO. Director: Christopher Nolan In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup , a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Director: Steve McQueen With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. Director: Quentin Tarantino In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same. Directors: Quentin Tarantino, Eli Roth Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth After John Nash , a brilliant but asocial mathematician, accepts secret work in cryptography, his life takes a turn for the nightmarish.

Director: Ron Howard Edit Storyline Based on the real life story of legendary cryptanalyst Alan Turing, the film portrays the nail-biting race against time by Turing and his brilliant team of code-breakers at Britain's top-secret Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, during the darkest days of World War II. Written by Studio Canal Behind every code is an enigma See more » Genres: Rated PG-13 for some sexual references, mature thematic material and historical smoking | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 25 December 2014 (USA) See more » Also Known As: El código enigma See more » Filming Locations: $479,352 (USA) (28 November 2014) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia Matthew Beard , who plays Peter Hilton, considered the Hut 8 Team as "The Avengers in Tweed". See more » Goofs Many interviews conducted with many of the people who worked at Bletchley Park have said many times that they had been instructed not to ask about activities in other huts.

There's several scenes where other characters do just that, such as when the code breakers are celebrating in the pub and ask Helen about her work in her hut and also when Joan mentions about how the girls in one hut had been in a row over events in another hut. See more » Quotes [first lines] Alan Turing : Are you paying attention? Good. If you're not listening carefully you will miss things. Important things. I will not pause, I will not repeat myself, and you will not interrupt me. If you think that because you're sitting where you are and I am sitting where I am that you are in control of what is about to happen, you 're mistaken. I am in control, because I know things that you do not know. Written and Performed by Ed Palermo (as Eddie Palermo) Courtesy of Warner Chappell Production Music (United Kingdom) – See all my reviews Alan Turing, Mathematician, Logician, Wartime Codebreaker and father of Computer Science. A great British Hero. A great hero in the fight against prejudice. This film tackles themes of prejudice against the feminine, against homosexuality and more generally against anyone who is different. How?

By simply pointing out, using the example of Alan Turing and his colossal achievements, that it takes someone different to do something amazing. And an amazing story it is, packaged in a beautifully tight screenplay without a wasted scene, that keeps the audience fully engaged throughout. All the cast are on top form, in orbit around a stellar performance by Benedict Cumberbatch that layers humour, complexity, sexuality and the palpable frustration of a brilliant mind not quite able to communicate with his fellow humans. A film that depicts a man who perhaps fails the test he invented, that is now named after him. The Turing Test. Can he fool you that he is a real human being and not a super intelligent machine? The stress of playing that Imitation Game is set into every micro twitch of the central character. Should you go see it? No special effects. No interstellar spaceships. Why not wait for the download? Go see it! Because otherwise you would be missing the chance to see a most remarkable film, performed to perfection. A film about a story that matters, about events that changed history and simply about a man without whom you might not even be able to read this review on your Turing machine. 185 of 249 people found this review helpful.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes Movie Review: The Imitation Game | THE SANDBOX NEWS Home / Arts & Entertainment / Movie Review: The Imitation Game Comments Off on Movie Review: The Imitation Game 1 Movie Review: The Imitation Game Arts & Entertainment February 13, 2015 , by Sandbox Staff By Chase Joslin Contains Spoilers – The Imitation Game contains wonderful acting, dramatic scenes, and tense moments. The movie covers some controversial topics and sheds light on the events that took place during the British Army’s attempts to crack the German enigma code. In this film, Benedict Cumberbatch gave one of his best performances to date. The enigma code was an encryption method used by the German military to stop the British from intercepting and cracking their messages. Cracking this code would be the key to winning the war for the British, but it seemed impossible. That’s where Alan Turing came in. Allen Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, is a genius mathematician with a stiff upper lip. He is taken in by the British military to head the project of cracking the code. The movie, although correct, barely scratches the surface of Turing’s true complexity.

In the film, his stubborn and quirky personality almost gets him fired from the project, but his team members vouch for his credibility and keep him on-board. Controversy strikes when a spy is detected in the project and Alan is suspected. Although this did happen in real life, there is not much evidence as to when or what action was taken to find out who the spy was. This creates a problem because the movie really relied on this event to create some turbulence between the team members. Accuracy seemed to be put on the back burner for this particular event in order to create a better movie. Aside from this, the movie stays true to historical facts and the delivery is as entertaining as it is informative. Although a few events were forced to be a little more dramatic than they should have been, the movie does a good job of informing the audience about the life of Alan Turing, who was the pioneer of the modern day computer. Alan Turing was a very intelligent man who accomplished great things. Unfortunately he was punished for his sexual orientation, and the movie does an excellent job of covering the events that took place. During this period in history, homosexuality was considered dangerous to society and punishable by law. Alan was wrongly accused of a crime and was treated medically for his sexuality.

The events that follow the enigma project are extremely accurate and well portrayed. Although the directing had a few flaws, the phenomenal acting and dramatic story make this movie possibly one of the greatest of 2014. The Imitation Game has been nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Cumberbatch), and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kiera Knightly). The Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb 22 at 7pm EST. (Promotional photos and trailer are property of the Weinstein Company). Share this Post: L.V. Anderson L.V. Anderson is a Slate associate editor. Just how inaccurate are those inaccuracies? I read the masterful biography that the screenplay is based on, Andrew Hodges’ Alan Turing: The Enigma , to find out. I discovered that The Imitation Game takes major liberties with its source material, injecting conflict where none existed, inventing entirely fictional characters, rearranging the chronology of events, and misrepresenting the very nature of Turing’s work at Bletchley Park. At the same time, the film might paint Turing as being more unlovable than he actually was.

For details on the film’s flights of fancy, read on. (There will, naturally, be spoilers.) Advertisement Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) Wikimedia Commons / © 2014 - The Weinstein Company The Alan Turing played by Benedict Cumberbatch is brusque, humorless, and brilliant. In an early scene where he is interviewed by Commander Denniston (Charles Dance), we learn that he made exceptional achievements in mathematics at a young age. This is a reflection of reality: Turing was elected as a fellow at Cambridge at the age of 22, and he published his most influential paper, “ On Computable Numbers ,” at 24. Other aspects of Cumberbatch’s characterization are true to life, as well: Turing was fairly indifferent to politics, both in the interpersonal sense and in the civic sense. He ran marathons. He was also gay, and even more openly than the film implies. Hodges’ biography is filled with instances in which Turing boldly made advances toward other men—mostly without success. Turing also told his friends and colleagues about his homosexuality.

However, the central conceit of The Imitation Game—that Turing singlehandedly invented and physically built the machine that broke the Germans’ Enigma code—is simply untrue. A predecessor of the “Bombe”—the name given to the large, ticking machine that used rotors to test different letter combinations—was invented by Polish cryptanalysts before Turing even began working as a cryptologist for the British government.* Turing’s great innovation was to design a new machine that broke the Enigma code faster by looking for likely letter combinations and ruling out combinations that were unlikely to yield results. Turing didn’t develop the new, improved machine by dint of his own singular genius—the mathematician Gordon Welchman, who is not even mentioned in the film, collaborated with Turing on the design. Advertisement Leaving aside Turing’s codebreaking achievements, The Imitation Game also somewhat alters Turing’s personality. The film strongly implies that Alan is somewhere on the autism spectrum: Cumberbatch’s character doesn’t understand jokes, takes common expressions literally, and seems indifferent to the suffering and annoyance he causes in others.

This characterization is rooted in Hodge’s biography but is also largely exaggerated: Hodges never suggests that Turing was autistic, and though he refers to Turing’s tendency to take contracts and other bureaucratic red tape literally, he also describes Turing as a man with a keen sense of humor and close friends. To be sure, Hodges paints Turing as shy, eccentric, and impatient with irrationality, but Cumberbatch’s narcissistic, detached Alan has more in common with the actor’s title character in Sherlock than with the Turing of Hodges’ biography. One of Turing’s colleagues at Bletchley Park later recalled him as “a very easily approachable man” and said “we were very very fond of him”; none of this is reflected in the film. In addition to the more significant creative liberties that the movie takes, there are small fictions surrounding his character in the movie. Although, in the movie, Alan tells Denniston that he doesn’t know German, Turing did in fact study German and travel to Germany before and after the war. Turing did not, as far as we know, have a compulsion to separate his peas and carrots.

(In fact, given his generally unkempt appearance, it’s highly unlikely he gave attention to such details.) And whether or not Turing liked sandwiches—a key plot point in The Imitation Game—goes unmentioned in Hodges’ biography. Christopher Morcom (Jack Bannon) In flashbacks to 1928 in The Imitation Game, we learn that Alan’s first love was a classmate at boarding school named Christopher. Christopher rescues Alan after he’s nailed under the floorboards by bullies, teaches Alan to communicate via codes and ciphers, flirts with Alan, and then suddenly dies of bovine tuberculosis. Advertisement Although many of the details are invented for the movie, the gist of this storyline is true: Turing really did befriend and develop romantic feelings for a boy named Christopher Morcom at Sherborne School, the boys’ school in Dorset that he attended as a teenager. (He also did get trapped under the floorboards by other boys, according to Alan Turing: The Enigma, but this occurred before he met Morcom.) Morcom died from bovine tuberculosis in 1930, shortly after he’d been accepted to Cambridge and three years after Turing had first met him.

In the movie, it’s implied that Christopher shares Alan’s attraction, but it seems likely that Turing’s affection for Morcom was unrequited—Turing later wrote, “Chris knew I think so well how I liked him, but hated me shewing it.” Several other details of their relationship are different in the movie than in Alan Turing: The Enigma. Although in the movie Christopher is taller than young Alan (Alex Lawther), in reality Turing had a growth spurt at 15, while Morcom was “surprisingly small for his form.” (Morcom was one year ahead of Turing in school.) Turing and Morcom bonded over math and chemistry, not ciphers; Turing began exploring ciphers with another friend at Sherborne after Morcom had died. The biggest departure from reality in the film is the scene where the headmaster informs Alan of Christopher’s death, and Alan denies having known Christopher very well. In real life, Turing was openly devastated by Morcom’s death, and he subsequently developed a relationship with Morcom’s family, going on vacations with them and maintaining a correspondence with Morcom’s mother for years after he’d left Sherborne.

Additionally, Turing did not call any of the early computers he worked on “Christopher”—that is a dramatic flourish invented by screenwriter Graham Moore. Commander Denniston (Charles Dance) Screenshot © 2014 - The Weinstein Company Advertisement In The Imitation Game, Commander Denniston is a rigid naval officer who resents Alan’s indifference to the military hierarchy and attempts to fire him when his decryption machine fails to deliver fast results. This characterization is mostly fictional, and Denniston’s family has taken issue with the film’s negative portrayal of him . The real-life Alastair Denniston, who spent most of his career as the director of the Government Code and Cypher School, was eager to expand his staff to help break the Germans’ Enigma code in the late 1930s. He recruited Turing, on the basis of his work at Cambridge and his writing on hypothetical computation machines, in 1938, and he hired Turing to work full time at Bletchley Park when Britain entered World War II in September 1939.

There’s no record of a contentious interview between Turing and Denniston, and Denniston never tried to fire Turing from the Government Code and Cypher School—rather, given his innovations, Turing was a star of Bletchley Park. Even if most of the details of the conflict between Commander Denniston and Alan are made up, they do stand in for a real-life power struggle between the military brass and the cryptologists. Turing’s colleagues there recalled that Turing “was always impatient of pompousness or officialdom of any kind,” which made him ill-suited for work in a military context, and Hodges writes that he “had little time for Denniston.” One of the most memorable clashes between Commander Denniston and Alan in the movie occurs when Alan goes over Denniston’s head to write a letter to Winston Churchill, who immediately puts Alan in charge of the Enigma-breaking operation and grants him the 100,000 pounds he needs to build his machine. This never happened, but Alan and three colleagues at Bletchley Park—including Hugh Alexander—did write a letter to Churchill requesting more staff and resources in 1941, and Churchill quickly granted them their requests.

Hugh Alexander (Matthew Goode) Wikimedia Commons / © 2014 - The Weinstein Company In The Imitation Game, Hugh Alexander is a suave ladykiller who spends much of the film battling with Alan for control of the codebreaking operations; Hugh eventually recognizes Alan’s genius and falls in line behind him. Hugh Alexander—who went professionally by Conel Hugh O’Donel Alexander or C.H.O’D. Alexander—was a real person, but the film’s Hugh character seems intended to serve as a contrast to Alan’s antisocial personality. Advertisement The film is faithful to the basic facts: Alexander was a chess champion, and he was much better at managing people than Turing was. However, Alexander was not initially assigned to be Turing’s superior at Bletchley Park. Alexander began working there several months after Turing arrived, and the two didn’t begin working together for another year or so, when Alexander was transferred to Turing’s team to work on breaking Germany’s naval Enigma code. Hodges writes, “Hugh Alexander soon proved the all-round organiser and diplomat that Alan could never be.” Alexander eventually took over naval Enigma decryption after Turing began pursuing a speech decryption project, but by all accounts, their relationship was friendly and mutually respectful.

In fact, when Turing was tried for indecency in 1952, Alexander served as a character witness for the defense. Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley) © 2014 - The Weinstein Company Keira Knightley’s character in The Imitation Game is a brilliant, spunky young mathematician whom Alan agrees to marry to get her conservative parents off her back. As with other storylines, the skeleton of this narrative is true, even if the details are not. Clarke was recruited to Bletchley Park by her former academic supervisor (and Turing’s partner in improving the Bombe) Gordon Welchman; she didn’t win the role by excelling in a crossword competition. (Bletchley recruiters did use crosswords to find talented codebreakers, but neither Turing nor Clarke was involved in this effort.) And Turing proposed to Clarke not to help her escape from overbearing parents, but because they liked each other. He “told her that he was glad he could talk to her ‘as to a man,’ ” writes Hodges, and they shared an interest in chess and botany. She even accepted Turing’s homosexuality; their engagement continued after he confessed his attraction to men.

But after some months, Turing ended the engagement. “It was neither a happy nor an easy decision,” writes Hodges, but it wasn’t the ultimately violent confrontation depicted in The Imitation Game, either. “There had been several times when he had come out with ‘I do love you.’ Lack of love was not Alan’s problem.” Turing and Clarke kept in touch after their engagement ended, and Turing even tried to rekindle their relationship after a couple of years, but Clarke rebuffed him. Turing also wrote a letter to Clarke in 1952 to inform her of his impending trial for indecency, but the final scene of The Imitation Game, in which Joan visits Alan during his probation, is invented. Advertisement

Question: Who portrayed Alan Turing in the 2015 film The Imitation Game?
Answer: Benedict Cumberbatch